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Homeless Camp Fire in Goleta

Santa Barbara County firefighters extinguished a large fire at a homeless encampment between Elwood Station Road and Highway 101 in Goleta Tuesday morning.

At 6:25 a.m., fire crews responded to the area for a report of a structure fire. Upon arrival they discovered the camp fully involved in fire putting up a lot of thick black smoke between the railroad tracks and freeway, reports Captain Dave Zaniboni.

A makeshift structure was burning in the brush and caught nearby trees on fire, as well as surrounding belongings. Crews knocked down the fire quickly and are on scene mopping up the area.

It's unknown how the fire started. There were no injuries reported and the railroad tracks and freeway is open.

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Home sellers should be forced to disclose any encampments nearby. Insurance companies should require nearby encampments (obvious fire danger) be removed before insuring a home. A friend's insurance was temporarily cancelled because a tall tree had branches over the house. The insurance company insisted the tree branches be cut before reinstating the insurance. Limiting risk.

There seems to be a 'new' growing encampment right at the southbound 101 onramp of Mission St. It is probably 200 feet from an apartment complex. Further north, there is a pile of leftover encampment debris, also on the southbound 101 side. It's been out there for months so obviously, no one wants all that stuff. And further north, again on the southbound side of the 101 and near the Union Pacific tracks, there is a growing encampment, this one north of the Las Carneros exit (I think). This one is also very near the new condos. I agree that insurance companies should be aware when one's home is this close to an encampment that is allowed.

Drug syringes in foreground of photo. How many dogs have stepped on those. Do dogs get hepatitis and AIDS? And other issues, such as tuberculosis, “75% of canine cases are caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is most commonly transmitted by infected humans to animals." These encampments, dogs included, are a health emergency for all of us, people and animals.

For all the comments along the lines of "kick them out because of the fire" ....how about kicking out the EDISON company.....after all, they are responsible for fires burning down LOTS and LOTS of houses.

If you live near one of these, document with photos and make call to police and get case number of your complaint. You'll be ready for a lawsuit if a encampment fire is started and your property is damaged. In L.A. "A Bel-Air synagogue is suing the city and county of Los Angeles over last year’s Skirball fire, saying they failed to clear the homeless encampment where the blaze started. The temple lists four causes of action, including claims that the city and county maintained a dangerous condition on public property and allowed a public nuisance. It is seeking more than $25,000 in damages. The encampment was nestled in a canyon several hundred feet from Sepulveda Boulevard and the 405 Freeway, hidden from passing cars. Officials have said it was home to an unknown number of people for several years." https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-skirball-fire-lawsuit-20180823-story.html

GENERAL TREE : How many of those in the former state institutions that were forced out on the streets by ACLU during the Reagan administration are still alive and on the streets today? Who is responsible for the current crop who were not even in those state institutions or alive when this ACLU act took place. Why do you keep saying Reagan closed those institutions, when in fact his hand was forced by the ACLU. And who is forcing vagrants on the streets today. I do think re-opening the state lock-down institutions is the right thing to do, and taxpayers did fund billions of extra dollars for this care level with the passage of the Mental Health Services Act over 10 years ago. Compare the bushes along the RR tracks to the beautiful campus like setting of Camarillo if you want to demonstrate compassion for these out-door dwelling vagrants who set their own encampments on fire.

Although I totally agree that these camps need to be cleared out this case is a little different. The man who's structure burned was cited for illegal burning. He was trapped inside by flames and had to cut his way out. He was previously a paint contractor and currently doing enough contracting work to get by. He lost not only his warm clothes, work boots and new cell phone but also his last paycheck. Everyone else ran but he felt guilty and stayed to cooperate with authorities thereby being cited.

The vagrants are the ones must change. Not the rest of us, other than stop enabling them to live in the bushes, pollute our creeks and beaches, destroy downtown, take over our parks and playing fields and create a huge drain on our local budget. And we get nothing in return? Think again.

When Reagan was elected President in 1980, he discarded a law proposed by his predecessor that would have continued funding federal community mental health centers. This basically eliminated services for people struggling with mental illness.
He made similar decisions while he was the governor of California, releasing more than half of the state’s mental hospital patients and passing a law that abolished involuntary hospitalization of people struggling with mental illness. This started a national trend of de-institutionalization.
And California democrats have ZERO correltion to the absolutely tragic numbers of citizens sucking the welfare systems dry in the red states.

The few GOP left in this state can be found holding a sign Will Vote for Food. Everything this state has become has been done on the Democrat watch, and even RINO Schwarzenegger betrayed any conservative principles at the first blush of opposition. Nope, clearly this state took a wrong turn after the year 2000 and the Democrats and their government union handmaidens are now harvesting what they has sown. The massive amount of public pension debt and Democrat legislative lock run up since the year 2000 means there is no longer a turnaround point. What do you think will happen to this state over the next 20 years of Democrat control? Two years camping out by the RR tracks in a large cluster of vagrants is just one picture of California that has now emerged statewide during this Democrat reign.

Between Montecito and Goleta, there are dozens on encampments. Just take the train some time. Why they are allowed to set up these permanent encampments both on Union Pacific property and in the 101 easements is beyond me. They are trespassing on private and public property. I wouldn't be allowed to walk across these areas. And then they are allowed to panhandle at all the on/off ramps, often walking right down the ramps. You report them and the police give you the run around. They send you to CHP who then tell you they don't have funding. Nonsense. Give the occupants a few days' notice to pack up and then get in there and clear it all out. Didn't they just do that in Lompoc?

Nature boy, according to both police and CHP, panhandling on the off/on ramps is illegal (and dangerous). If they walk down the ramps, they can be reported. If they interfere with traffic, they can be reported. If they obstruct a sidewalk or the pedestrian right of way, they can be reported. If they are defecating or urinating in public, they should be reported. Now, if anything is done is the other issue. And, NB, save the snark..... I am not your 'love'.

The only way the city or county is going to do anything about this is when lawsuits for property damage and whatever else (nuisance, health issues, etc.) get filed by the public maybe even as a class action. I would recommend people who were in any way impacted by this consider filing one.

This was near a mobile home community and could have spread and injured or killed families sleeping in their beds! It is time to put an end to allowing these. You can't fine them, so just kick them out and clean it up. Please!

The homeless camps along the 101 in Goleta are well known yet ignored by authorities. How many times does this have to happen before they are cleared out? The camps are an eyesore as you drive by, yet nobody does anything until they start fires. The county is more concerned about the type of straw I use in my morning coffee than they are with the real issues. SMDH.

SOCALMOMMY doesn’t realize that what she perceives as an “eyesore” (oh NO - do your eyes hurt from glancing at the less fortunate while you zoom along the freeway?) is a symptom rather than a problem. Also, the rate of homeless camp fires is lower than the rate of domestic household fires, according to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association).

FACTOTUM: Those who fall upon hard times and can’t find work, or are homeless for ANY reason, you warn “Get out of SB” like some Clint Eastwood cowboy from “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. You’re the last two.